Why a UK researcher built a US mortgage site
A few years ago I was trying to fund a home renovation project in the UK. Like most British homeowners, my options were straightforward — and not particularly flexible. I could remortgage, take a secured loan, or borrow unsecured at a much higher rate. Whichever way I went, I'd be borrowing a fixed lump sum and paying interest on the full amount from day one, whether I'd spent the money yet or not.
During my research I discovered that American homeowners have access to a vastly more complex and varied mortgage market than anything we have in the UK — fixed rates, adjustable rates, FHA loans, VA loans, conventional loans, jumbo mortgages, points, PMI, escrow accounts. The more I read, the more I realised that the US mortgage market hands homeowners a genuinely complex financial product — often the largest debt they will ever take on — and then largely leaves them to figure out the terminology themselves.
"American homeowners have access to financial tools that many of them don't fully understand — and almost nobody explains them without trying to sell something."
The people who understand this landscape best are mortgage brokers and lenders. And they have a financial interest in the outcome of your decision. Independent, unbiased, plain-English education is harder to find than it should be.
What I set out to build
MyHomeRates.com is my attempt to fill that gap. It sits alongside other sites I've built for the same reason, all following the same editorial principles.
I have no commercial relationship with any mortgage lender, broker, or financial institution. I receive no referral fees, no affiliate commissions, and no payment of any kind for recommending any product. The content on this site exists purely to educate.
I'm a fan of Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad philosophy — the idea that financial literacy is a life skill that fundamentally changes outcomes, and that most of us were never taught it. A 30-year mortgage is the biggest financial commitment most American families will ever make. Understanding what you're signing, why the numbers work the way they do, and what questions to ask your lender — that knowledge has real, measurable value.
My editorial principles
Every piece of content on this site is written and edited by me, following the same standards across the board.
Every claim is sourced
Any figure, rate, or statistic links back to a primary source — Freddie Mac, the Federal Reserve, the CFPB, HUD, or IRS publications.
Risks explained as clearly as benefits
I don't write to sell. If a financial product has a downside, I explain it in the same plain English as the upside.
No hidden agenda
No lender pays to appear on this site. No product is recommended because of a commercial relationship.
Rate data links to live sources
Rather than publish rate figures that go stale, I link directly to Freddie Mac and other authoritative sources that update in real time.
The UK perspective as an editorial asset
Being a UK outsider to the US mortgage market is, I think, genuinely useful. I don't take the terminology for granted. I don't assume you know what PMI stands for, or why the 30-year fixed rate is the benchmark everyone watches, or why points exist as a concept at all. I had to learn all of it from scratch, which means I explain it the way someone learning it fresh would want it explained.
I also see the US mortgage market through a comparative lens. In the UK, most homeowners remortgage every two to five years onto a new fixed deal — variable rates are considered risky. The idea of locking in a 30-year fixed rate at the start, as millions of American homeowners do, is largely unavailable here. That comparison helps me highlight what's distinctive — and what's worth understanding — about the choices available to US borrowers.
The publishing network
MyHomeRates.com is part of a small network of independent personal finance education sites, all built on the same editorial principles and all focused on giving American consumers clearer information about the financial products they already have access to.
A note on how this site is built
I'm not a developer. I'm a researcher and writer who has taught himself enough to publish properly structured, well-coded web pages. The technical side of this project has been a learning curve — but it means I understand exactly what's on every page, because I've been involved in building it.
Content on this site is researched and edited by me, with the assistance of AI writing tools. Every editorial decision — what to cover, how to frame it, what sources to cite, what risks to flag — is mine. I read every word before it goes live.
Get in touch
If you've spotted an error, have a question I haven't answered, or just want to tell me what would make this site more useful to you — I'd genuinely like to hear from you. This is a one-person operation and reader feedback is how it gets better.
Use the contact page to reach me directly.